Multiple tariff counter for measuring instruments



.Feb. 8, 1949. R. PUDELKO ET AL MULTIPLE TARIFF COUNTER FOR MEASURING INSTRUMENTS Filed Sept 25, 1943 gnvmw, Richard fluid/i0 Patented Feb. 8, 1949 rnmr n'oonn rnn' Fon- MnnsnmNG INSTRUMENTS B ch rd B dc kc -and akw- Z'u Switzch 7 a assi nqrs to Land:

313, A. G., Zug,

Switzerland; t scaly dti itz rlan Applicationseptember 23, 19.43; Serial No; 503;469 In. Swi zerl 7,- .1942

' In the known multiple tarifircounters,aformeasuring; instruments, as, forinstance,-, electricity meters, the switching or change-over;to/thenvariusl a ii s is pe for ed by lays re ec tro-magnets. t er re r quirejmuch mater l. s ell s space to mount t em n he n rumen s; hey: ma interferewith-the'proper Working fthe' instrument; and they, are'liable to; be rendered-uncertain in action by external influences. Suchrelays are. alsov easily subject to hummin or buzzing.

Thepresent, invention has for; primary. object" to overcome: these drawbacks and. according tozit, as embodied in a multipletarifiacounterrfor measuring instruments; a resistanceis directly connected into the line or network and actseupon av bimetallic strip which in turir controls; the change-over device ofthetarifi mechanism. The

resistanceand-bimetallic strip may lie spacially one within each other," whereby the resistance, which may be the shape of a tube, may surround the bimeta'l'lic" strip which is preferably wound n. t e n e .q 5111 1 The accompanying drawing: shows' diagram;- matically,.l1y, way of example, a, constructional form of embodiment in an exploded; perspective viewpwherein there is only shown what isznece'se sary for a proper-understanding of the invention.

' Referring more particularly to this drawing, the numeralsl and 2 respectively designate;- the unit drums or rollsof-the trains of a two-rate counter; 3, 4 are thetensswitching pinions associated therewith, and 5'and-6' are-the gearswhich drive the'drums or'rolls of the respective-trains. The gear-wheel 5" mesheswith a gear 1, which latter; together with a sunwheel BJof a diiierential, is rigidly mounted on a hollow sleeve or'shaft'il. This shaft 9 isfreely-. rotatahleioma shaft H) on which vthe driving Wheel Ll, for the counter is secured and which also carries; the planetary wheel l2 of the differential gear. The; second sunwheel, 1-3 of the difierential gear lSyfiXBd to and for rotation with a pinion M in driving connection with the gear wheel 6.

Between the sets of drums or rolls I, 2 and the shaft I0 is a control shaft [5 provided with two pawls i6, i1 and an angle lever 18, I9. The pawls l6, l1 cooperate with the wheels I, I4 in such a way that alternately the pawls by reverse movements of the shaft l5 engage the wheels I and I4, thereby locking one set of drum rolls or the other against motion. The arm l8 of the angle lever 18, I9 is formed with an eye 20 engaged by a pin Su la s arc m a elr bulls," and,

2 L;stationarily;v supported in the counter by which the angular deflection of the lever l8, l9 is-lim cited, said arm carrying at its free end a plate 22' thatbears ina hnown manner the signs or marks ind'c ti g the-servicecondition of the counter.

The, arm 19 of the angle lever i3, i9 constitutes with an arm 23 a toggle lever, the arm 2-3 being rigidly connected to one'end oi'a bimetallic strip 24 wound in the manner of a spiral, the other endofsaidstrip beingfixed in the counter. The;bimet-allic spiral ms surrounded with.clearancei by a: tube-.shapediresi'stance 25 connected to terminals of: the. lineor network 26.; The numeral? 2'] indicates a. breaker in this connection which may be controlled by atime-switch;

The: control shaft l5 is'spirally encircled by a 'bnnetallic strip' 23 with clearance, one end-ofthe ment according 'to the temperature of the room in-which the counter'is disposed.

Assuming'now that the circuit in which the-resistance llis arranged be interrupted, as" shown in th'e'drawing; thenthe arm 23'rests on an abutmerit, orstop 29' and'the toggle lever 2 3, 19 has allowed'th e plate" 22to' descend to its lower indicating pos ition,.in, which the top of the eye 21] upon the pin, 2i and the pawl ificlocksrthe geariirg'l151andfiwith it'the rolls lf-ag'ainst moveresult, the arm I8 is raised and moves plate 22 to its upper indicating position and'the pawl 15 is moved out of engagement with the Wheel 1, while the pawl l7 snaps into engagement with wheel I4. By this means the sun-wheel l3 will be held fixed and the planetary wheel I2 will turn thereon, thus transmitting the produced meas- The measuringin- By the use of the room temperature compen- A satlon strip 28 in operative association with the resistance causing the tariff change-over, due to the heating eifect of said resistance during a 1,

change-over, the influence of the room temperature on the measuring instrument can approxi-' mately be eliminated so that a comparatively slight warming of the resistance (say, up to 50 centigrades) will suflice to accomplish the change over. By the use of a resistance that permanently stands a heating of from 150-200 centigrade, the special room temperature compensation-member in the shape of the bimetallic strip 28 can in many cases also be done away with. When the strip 28 is not used the bimetallic strip 24 may be so dimensioned that it will act for both control and ambient temperature compensation.

The invention has various merits for multiple tarifi counters. The resistance directly connected into the line or network requires so little space that the size of the counter is practically not increased. By the employment of such a resistance, deleterious efiects on the operation of the measuring instrument as well as on the changeover means itself from outside influences are also avoided, buzzing or humming eliminated, and the necessity of using series resistances obviated.

Having. thus described our invention, we claim: 1. In a multiple rate meter, two counting trains, a driving gear for each train, a differential gearing having a planetary gear and two sun gears, means coupling each driving gear to a sun gear to form two coupled units, means for driving said planetary gear in accordance with metered power, a rock shaft, a detent for each driving gear rigidly mounted on said rock shaft andbeing arranged so that only one detent can engage its driving gear at one time, a bell crank carried by said rock shaft, a second rock shaft having an arm rigidly coupled thereto, said last named arm engaging-the other free end of the bell crank to form a toggle, a bimetal element coiled around said'second rock shaft and coupled thereto so that said second rock shaft may be turned one way or the other depending on the condition of said bimetal element, switch controlled heating means for controlling the condition of said lolmetal element thereby to select the detent for engaging its driving gear, and a second bimetal element coiled around the first rock shaft, secured thereto and exposed to normal temperature conditions to compensate for varying atmospheric temperatures.

2. In a multiple rate meter, two counting trains, a driving gear for each train, a difierential gearing having a planetary gear and two sun gears, means for coupling each driving gear to a sun gear to form two coupled units, means for driving said planetary gear in accordance with metered power, a detent for each driving gear, said detents being mounted on a common rockable shaft and arranged to engage one driving gear or the other depending on the direction of rocking, ofsaid shaft, electrically heated bimetal means for rocking said shaft and another bimetal element responsive to atmospheric temperature and opposing the action of the heated -bimetal element to compensate for atmospheric temperature variations.

3. In a multiple rate meter, two counting gearingv having a planetary gear and two sun gears, means for coupling each driving gear to a sun gearto form two coupled units, means for driving said planetary gear in accordance with metered power, a rock shaft, a detent for each driving gear rigidly mounted on said rock shaft and being arranged so'that only one detent can engage its driving gear at one time, a bell-crank carried by said rock shaft and carrying means at one end thereof for indicating the effective rate being metered, a second rock shaithaving an arm rigidly coupled thereto, said last-named arm engaging the other free end of the bell-crank to form a toggle, a bi-metal element coiled around said second rock shaft and coupled thereto so that said second rock shaft may be turned one way or the other depending upon the condition of said bi-m etal element, switch controlled heating means for controlling the condition of said bi-metal element thereby to select the detent for engaging its drivinggear and a second bi-metal element coiled around the first rock shaft and secured thereto with said second lei-metal element being exposed to normal temperature conditions to compensate against varying atmospheric temperatures.

RICHARD PUDELKO.

PAUL MOOS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

3 UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,217,920 Cummings Mar. 6, 1917 1,937,451 Willis, Jr Nov. 28, 1933 2,037,447 Wenk Apr. 14, 1936 2,081,044 Runaldue May 18, 1937 2,089,631 Waite Aug. 10, 1937 2,132,255 Cameron Oct. 4, 1938 2,144,589 Rich Jan. 17, 1939 2,211,773 Hall Aug. 20, 1940 2,213,339 Downing, Jr Sept. 3, 1940 2,325,438 Thomas et al July 27, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 156,491 Switzerland Nov. 16, 1932 242,759 Great Britain Nov. 19, 1925 436,957 Great Britain Oct. 17, 1935 

